Location based content aggregation and distribution systems and methods

ABSTRACT

An exemplary method includes a content hub subsystem receiving a content posting from an access device connected to a wireless network and associated with a first user. The content posting includes data representative of a content instance and a geographic location associated with the content instance. The exemplary method further includes the content hub subsystem storing the content posting and selectively distributing the content instance to at least one other access device connected to the wireless network based on the geographic location, the at least one other access device associated with a second user. A past or present physical location of the at least one other access device within a predefined proximity of the geographic location is requisite to the distribution of the content instance to the at least one other access device. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/006,067, filed Jan. 13, 2011, which applicationis a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/059,742, filed Mar. 31, 2008 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,882,201.The contents of these applications are hereby incorporated by referencein their respective entireties.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Advances in electronic communications technologies have interconnectedpeople and allowed for creation and distribution of electronic contentperhaps better than ever before. For example, mobile phones exist thatcan be used to take photographs, record audio, capture video, andcommunicate via voice calls, voice messages, text messages, andelectronic mail messages (“e-mail messages”). Mobile phones can also beused to present the created content for experiencing by a user, or thecontent may be transferred from the mobile phone to a more long-termdata storage platform, which can be used to store and present thecontent. However, if a user of a device such as a mobile phone wants toprovide created content to other people, typically, the user mustactively provide the content to each person (e.g., by electronicmessaging).

As an example, a user may utilize a mobile phone camera to capture aphotograph at a particular geographic location. If the user wants toshare the photograph, the user must actively send a copy of thephotograph to each desired recipient. In addition, the user may have toprovide an explanation of the content in order for the content to makesense to each recipient. For instance, the user may send a text messageexplaining, “Here is a picture from my trip to Bermuda.” This processquickly becomes repetitive and time consuming when repeated for multipledifferent recipients. Moreover, the user may have no way of identifyingcertain people who may be interested in, or become interested in,content associated with the geographic location.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate various embodiments and are a partof the specification. The illustrated embodiments are merely examplesand do not limit the scope of the disclosure. Throughout the drawings,identical or similar reference numbers designate identical or similarelements.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary location based content aggregation anddistribution system.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary access device that may be used in thesystem of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates access devices physically located within an exemplarynetwork footprint.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary location based content imprint virtuallyposted within the network footprint of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary content hub subsystem that may beincluded in the system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 illustrates an access device located physically proximate to ageographic location associated with the content imprint of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary travel path of an access device relativeto a plurality of content imprints virtually posted within the networkfootprint of FIG. 3.

FIG. 8 illustrates exemplary data relationships associated with thetravel path of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 illustrates another exemplary content hub subsystem that may beincluded in the system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary implementation of the system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary location based content aggregation anddistribution method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary location based content aggregation and distribution systemsand methods are described herein. In certain exemplary embodiments, oneor more users of one or more access devices configured to communicatewith a content hub subsystem by way of a network are able to utilize theaccess devices to create content, associate the content with geographiclocations to form content postings, and provide the content postings,including the content and associated geographic location data, to thecontent hub subsystem. As used herein, the term “content” may refer toone or more “content instances,” which may include, but are not limitedto, electronic data representative of text, one or more messages (e.g.,short message service (“SMS”) messages or multimedia message service(“MMS”) messages), one or more symbols, one or more graphics, one ormore images (e.g., digital photographs and video frames), video, audio,multimedia, or any segment, portion, component, or combination thereof.

The content hub subsystem may be configured to aggregate and store thecontent postings received from the access devices, and to selectivelydistribute the content based on the geographic locations indicated bythe location data. For instance, when a user with an access deviceenters within a pre-determined physical distance, i.e., a predefinedgeographic proximity, of a geographic location associated with a contentinstance, the content hub subsystem may make the content instanceaccessible to the user. The content hub subsystem may send anotification of the content becoming accessible to the access device,and the user may utilize the access device to request and receive (e.g.,download) the content instance from the content hub subsystem.

In this or similar manner, users of access devices may create and postcontent associated with geographic locations, and the content may beselectively distributed to users and/or access devices based on thegeographic locations. Accordingly, users are able to share postedcontent with one another in connection with geographic locations.

In certain embodiments, the content hub subsystem may be configured tocontinue to provide access to content for a predefined length of time(e.g., a day, week, month, or indefinitely). Accordingly, users may haveaccess to content based on past connections with geographic locationsassociated with the content.

The aggregation and distribution of posted content may enable users toconnect with one another based on geographic locations. In certainembodiments, the content hub subsystem may be configured to provideusers associated with common content and/or geographic locations withone or more tools for annotating the content and/or communicating withone another. For example, a user who has been granted access to postedcontent may annotate the content such as by editing the content, ratingthe content, or posting a comment about the content to the content hubsubsystem. The user who posted the content may access the annotation andrespond to the user who provided the annotation. Such communicationsbetween the users may be hosted as a communication thread to which theusers involved may be granted access.

Exemplary embodiments of location based content aggregation anddistribution systems and methods will now be described in more detailwith reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary location based content aggregation anddistribution system 100 (or simply “system 100”). As shown in FIG. 1,system 100 may include a content hub subsystem 110 selectively andcommunicatively connected to a plurality of access devices 120-1 through120-N (collectively “access devices 120”) by way of a network 125.

The access devices 120 and the content hub subsystem 110 may communicateover network 125 using any communication platforms and technologiessuitable for transporting data representative of content and geographiclocation data, including known communication technologies, devices,media, and protocols supportive of remote data communications, examplesof which include, but are not limited to, data transmission media,communications devices, Transmission Control Protocol (“TCP”), InternetProtocol (“IP”), File Transfer Protocol (“FTP”), Telnet, HypertextTransfer Protocol (“HTTP”), Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure(“HTTPS”), Session Initiation Protocol (“SIP”), Simple Object AccessProtocol (“SOAP”), Extensible Mark-up Language (“XML”) and variationsthereof, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (“SMTP”), Real-Time TransportProtocol (“RTP”), User Datagram Protocol (“UDP”), Global System forMobile Communications (“GSM”) technologies, Code Division MultipleAccess (“CDMA”) technologies, Time Division Multiple Access (“TDMA”)technologies, Short Message Service (“SMS”), Multimedia Message Service(“MMS”), radio frequency (“RF”) signaling technologies, signaling systemseven (“SS7”) technologies, Ethernet, in-band and out-of-band signalingtechnologies, and other suitable communications networks andtechnologies.

Network 125 may include one or more networks, including, but not limitedto, wireless networks, mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellulartelephone networks), closed media networks, subscriber televisionnetworks, cable networks, satellite networks, the Internet, intranets,local area networks, public networks, private networks, optical fibernetworks, broadband networks, narrowband networks, voice communicationsnetworks, Voice over Internet Protocol “(VoIP”) networks, PublicSwitched Telephone networks (“PSTN”), and any other networks capable ofcarrying data representative of content and communications signalsbetween access devices 120 and content hub subsystem 110. Communicationsbetween the content hub subsystem 110 and the access devices 120 may betransported using any one of above-listed networks, or any combinationor sub-combination of the above-listed networks. In certain exemplaryembodiments, network 125 includes a mobile telephone network.

In some examples, system 100 may include any computer hardware and/orinstructions (e.g., software programs), or combinations of software andhardware, configured to perform the processes described herein. Inparticular, it should be understood that components of system 100 may beimplemented on one physical computing device or may be implemented onmore than one physical computing device. Accordingly, system 100 mayinclude any one of a number of well known computing devices, and mayemploy any of a number of well known computer operating systems,including, but by no means limited to, known versions and/or varietiesof Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Macintosh, and Linux operating systems.

Accordingly, the processes described herein may be implemented at leastin part as computer-executable instructions, i.e., instructionsexecutable by one or more computing devices, tangibly embodied in acomputer-readable medium. In general, a processor (e.g., amicroprocessor) receives instructions, e.g., from a memory, acomputer-readable medium, etc., and executes those instructions, therebyperforming one or more processes, including one or more of the processesdescribed herein. Such instructions may be stored and transmitted usinga variety of known computer-readable media.

A computer-readable medium (also referred to as a processor-readablemedium) includes any medium that participates in providing data (e.g.,instructions) that may be read by a computer (e.g., by a processor of acomputer). Such a medium may take many forms, including, but not limitedto, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.Non-volatile media may include, for example, optical or magnetic disksand other persistent memory. Volatile media may include, for example,dynamic random access memory (“DRAM”), which typically constitutes amain memory. Transmission media may include, for example, coaxialcables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprisea system bus coupled to a processor of a computer. Transmission mediamay include or convey acoustic waves, light waves, and electromagneticemissions, such as those generated during radio frequency (“RF”) andinfrared (“IR”) data communications. Common forms of computer-readablemedia include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any otheroptical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium withpatterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any othermemory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer canread.

Access devices 120 may be associated with users, which in certainembodiments may be subscribers to or users of one or more services(e.g., a wireless telephone service) provided over network 125. As anexample, FIG. 1 shows users 130-1, 130-2, and 130-N (collectively “users130”) as being associated with access devices 120-1, 120-2, and 120-N,respectively. The exemplary users 130 and their particular associationswith access devices 120 are shown for illustrative purposes. Other userassociations with access devices 120 may be defined in system 100.

Access device 120 may include any device configured to perform one ormore of the access device processes described herein, includingcommunicating with content hub subsystem 110 by way of network 125.Access device 120 may include, but is not limited to, a wirelesscomputing device, a wireless communication device (e.g., a mobilephone), a portable computing device (e.g., a laptop), a portablecommunication device, a personal digital assistant, a network connectiondevice, a content recording device (e.g., a camera, audio recorder,video camera), a vehicular computing and/or communication device, andany other device configured to perform one or more of the access deviceprocesses described herein. In certain exemplary embodiments, accessdevice 120 includes a mobile telephone configured to access one or moreservices provided over network 125.

FIG. 2 illustrates components of an exemplary access device 120. Asshown in FIG. 2, access device 120 may include a communication facility210, processing facility 220, data storage facility 230, input/output(“I/O”) facility 240, content management facility 250, locationdetection facility 260, and location based content management facility270 communicatively connected to one another. The facilities 210-270 maybe communicatively connected using any suitable technologies. Each ofthe facilities 210-270 may be implemented as hardware, computinginstructions (e.g., software) tangibly embodied on a computer-readablemedium, or a combination of hardware and computing instructionsconfigured to perform the processes described herein. In certainembodiments, for example, location based content management facility 270may be implemented as a software application embodied on acomputer-readable medium such as data storage facility 230 andconfigured to direct the access device 120 (e.g., processing facility220 of the access device 120) to execute one or more of the processesdescribed herein.

Communication facility 210 may be configured to send and receivecommunications over network 125, including sending and receiving datarepresentative of content, geographic locations, and othercommunications to/from content hub subsystem 110. Communication facility210 may include any device, logic, and/or other technologies suitablefor transmitting and receiving data representative of content,geographic locations, and other communications. In certain embodiments,the communication facility 210 may be configured to support othernetwork service communications over network 125, including wirelessvoice, data, and messaging communications. The communication facility210 may be configured to interface with any suitable communicationmedia, protocols, formats, platforms, and networks, including any ofthose mentioned herein.

Processing facility 220 may be configured to control operations of oneor more components of the access device 120. Processing facility 220 maydirect execution of operations in accordance with computer-executableinstructions such as may be stored in data storage facility 230 or othercomputer-readable medium. As an example, processing facility 220 may beconfigured to process content, including demodulating, decoding, andparsing received content, and encoding and modulating content fortransmission to content hub subsystem 110.

Data storage facility 230 may include one or more data storage media,devices, or configurations and may employ any type, form, andcombination of storage media. For example, the data storage facility 230may include, but is not limited to, a hard drive, network drive, flashdrive, magnetic disc, optical disc, random access memory (“RAM”),dynamic RAM (“DRAM”), other non-volatile and/or volatile storage unit,or a combination or sub-combination thereof. Data, including datarepresentative of content and/or geographic locations, may betemporarily and/or permanently stored in the data storage facility 230.

I/O facility 240 may be configured to receive user input and provideuser output and may include any hardware, firmware, software, orcombination thereof supportive of input and output capabilities. Forexample, I/O facility 240 may include one or more devices for capturingor otherwise creating content, including, but not limited to, astill-shot and/or video camera, scanner, microphone, keyboard or keypad,touch screen component, and receiver (e.g., an RF or infrared receiver).Accordingly, a user 130 of access device 120 can create content (e.g.,by taking a picture or drafting a text message), which may be associatedwith one or more geographic locations and provide the content to contenthub subsystem 110 by way of network 125, as described below.

I/O facility 240 may include one or more devices for presenting contentfor experiencing by the user 130, including, but not limited to, agraphics engine, a display, display drivers, one or more audio speakers,and one or more audio drivers. Accordingly, I/O facility 240 may presentcontent (e.g., play back and/or display) for experiencing by the user130. I/O facility 240 may also be configured to provide other output forthe user 130, including providing notifications of posted contentbecoming accessible as described further below.

Content management facility 250 may be configured to provide one or moretools for management of content, including content that has been createdor received using access device 120. For example, content managementfacility 250 may enable a user 130 to organize content stored to datastorage facility 230. As another example, content management facility250 may provide one or more tools for annotating content, includingediting, rating, labeling, adding a note to, commenting about, blocking,reporting, and categorizing content. In certain embodiments, contentmanagement facility 250 may be implemented as a software applicationembodied on a computer-readable medium such as data storage facility 230and configured to direct the access device 120 (e.g., processingfacility 220 of the access device 120) to execute one or more of thecontent management operations described herein.

Location detection facility 260 may include any hardware, computinginstructions (e.g., software), or combination thereof configured todetect a geographic location of the access device 120. An access device120 may be portable and the geographic location of the access device 120may change as the access device 120 is transported. In some embodiments,the location detection facility 260 may be configured to utilize GlobalPositioning System (“GPS”) technologies to determine the geographiclocation of the access device 120 according to GPS coordinates. Othersuitable technologies may be used in other embodiments, including usingprinciples of trilateration to evaluate radio frequency signals receivedby the access device 120 (e.g., RF signals in a wireless phone network)and to estimate the geographic location of the access device 120.

FIG. 3 illustrates several access devices 120-1, 120-2, and 120-Nphysically located at different geographic locations within an exemplarynetwork footprint 310. The network footprint 310 refers to a collectivegeographic space within which access devices 120 are able to receivenetwork signals (e.g., signals from a satellite or a broadcast tower).As represented by arrows in FIG. 3, the reach of the network footprint310 may extend beyond the illustrated portion of the network footprint310. As described above, location detection facility 260 within anaccess device 120 may detect the geographic location of the accessdevice 120 within the network footprint 310.

Location detection facility 260 may be configured to detect thegeographic location of access device 120 periodically at a predeterminedfrequency or time, or in response to a predetermined trigger event. Sucha trigger event may include a detection of a content creation event orreceipt of an instruction to detect the current geographic location ofthe access device 120. As an example, location based content managementfacility 270 may be configured to recognize when a content instance iscreated and, in response to such a content creation event, instruct thelocation detection facility 260 to determine the geographic location ofthe access device 120.

Location detection facility 260 may generate and provide location datarepresentative of the detected geographic location. For example, thelocation data may be provided to data storage facility 230 for storageand/or to location based content management facility 270 for furtherprocessing. In certain embodiments, location detection facility 260 maybe configured to generate and update a historic log of detectedgeographic locations of the access device 120.

Returning to FIG. 2, location based content management facility 270 maybe configured to associate content with location data. For example, acontent instance may be created using an access device 120 as describedabove, and the geographic location of the access device 120 at the timethat the content instance is created may be detected as described above.Location based content management facility 270 may create an associationbetween the content instance and the location data representative of thegeographic location. This may be accomplished in any suitable manner,including utilizing the location data generated by the locationdetection facility 260 to create a “geo-tag” that is associated with thecontent instance.

In this or similar manner, the location based content managementfacility 270 may associate other information with a content instance,including, but not limited to, timestamps (e.g., the time and/or datewhen the content instance was created), user identifiers (e.g., anidentifier for a user 130 associated with the access device 120 and/orwho created the content instance), and content descriptions or typeidentifiers (e.g., a photograph content-type identifier). This otherinformation, once associated with the content instance, may be referredto as “other tag data.” As described below, geo-tag data and/or othertag data associated with content may be utilized for selective retrievaland distribution of the content.

Location based content management facility 270 may be configured toinitiate providing (e.g., uploading) of data representative of thecontent instance and the associated data (e.g., geo-tag and/or other tagdata) to content hub subsystem 110. The provided data, including thecontent instance, the associated geographic location data, andoptionally other data associated with the content instance, may bereferred to as a “content imprint” or a “content posting.” In certainembodiments, location based content management facility 270 may beconfigured to provide a user 130 of the access device 120 with an optionto provide the data to the content hub subsystem 110. For example, theuser may be prompted for approval before the data is provided to thecontent hub subsystem 110. In other embodiments, location based contentmanagement facility 270 may be configured to automatically provide thedata to the content hub subsystem 110 once the geo-tag location data hasbeen generated and associated with the content instance.

The location based content management facility 270 provides a user 130of an access device 120 with a capability of creating and virtuallyposting a content imprint at a specific location within the networkfootprint 310. As an example, user 130-1 and access device 120-1 may bephysically located at a particular geographic location within thenetwork footprint 310. User 130-1 may utilize the access device 120-1 tocreate content, such as by taking a photograph. A content instance(e.g., an image file) is generated. Location based content managementfacility 270 recognizes a content creation event and instructs thelocation detection facility 260 to detect the geographic location of theaccess device 120-1. The location detection facility 260 detects thegeographic location and provides location data, i.e., geo-tag data,representing the detected geographic location of the access device120-1. Location based content management facility 270 associates thelocation data with the content instance and provides the contentinstance, associated geo-tag data, and optionally other associated tagdata (i.e., a content posting) to the content hub subsystem 110, asdescribed above.

In this or similar manner, user 130-1 may create and virtually post acontent imprint including a content instance (e.g., a captured image)associated with a geographic location within the network footprint 310.FIG. 4 illustrates such an exemplary content imprint posting asrepresented by an “X” symbol 410 placed at the associated geographiclocation within the network footprint 310. Users 130 may create andvirtually post one or more content imprints to content hub subsystem110, which may be configured to aggregate and store the content forselective, location-based distribution.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary content hub subsystem 110. Thecomponents of content hub subsystem 110 may include or be implemented ashardware, computing instructions (e.g., software) embodied on acomputer-readable medium, or a combination thereof. In certainembodiments, for example, one or more components of content hubsubsystem 110 may include or be implemented on one or more servers(e.g., an application server, content server, messaging server, and/orweb server) configured to communicate over network 125. While anexemplary content hub subsystem 110 is shown in FIG. 5, the exemplarycomponents illustrated in FIG. 5 are not intended to be limiting.Indeed, additional or alternative components and/or implementations maybe used.

As shown in FIG. 5, content hub subsystem 110 may include acommunication module 510, which may be configured to transmit andreceive communications over network 125, including receiving datarepresentative of content and associated data (e.g., location data) fromand providing data representative of content to access devices 120 byway of network 125. The communication module 510 may include and/orsupport any suitable communication platforms and technologies forcommunicating with and transporting content and associated data to/fromaccess devices 120 over network 125. Communication module 510 may beconfigured to support a variety of communication platforms, protocols,and formats such that content hub subsystem 110 can receive content fromand distribute content to access devices 120 of a variety of platforms(e.g., a mobile telephone service platform, a web-based platform, asubscriber television platform, etc.) and using a variety ofcommunications technologies. Accordingly, the content hub subsystem 110can support a multi-platform system in which content can be receivedfrom and provided to diverse platforms.

Content hub subsystem 110 may include a processing module 520 configuredto control operations of components of the access device 120. Processingmodule 520 may direct execution of operations in accordance withcomputer-executable instructions stored to a computer-readable mediumsuch as a data store 530. As an example, processing module 520 may beconfigured to process (e.g., encode, decode, modulate, and/ordemodulate) content, data, and communications received from or to betransmitted to access devices 120 over network 125. As another example,processing module 520 may be configured to perform data managementoperations for storing data to data store 530 and for identifying,indexing, searching, retrieving, modifying, annotating, and/or deletingdata stored in data store 530.

Data store 530 may include one or more data storage media, devices, orconfigurations and may employ any type, form, and combination of storagemedia. For example, the data store 530 may include, but is not limitedto, a hard drive, network drive, flash drive, magnetic disc, opticaldisc, random access memory (“RAM”), dynamic RAM (“DRAM”), othernon-volatile and/or volatile storage unit, or a combination orsub-combination thereof.

Data store 530 may store any suitable type or form of electronic data.As shown in FIG. 5, data store 530 may include content data 540, geo-tagdata 550, other tag data 560, and profile data 580. Content data 540 mayinclude data representative of one or more content instances that havebeen received from one or more access devices 120 and stored forselective, location based distribution. Geo-tag data 550 may includedata representative of one or more geographic locations associated withcorresponding content instances as described above. Geo-tag data 550 maybe in any suitable format for identifying a geographic location,including GPS coordinates, for example. Other tag data 560 may includedata representative of other information associated with correspondingcontent instances, including any of the tag information described above.Profile data 580 will be described further below.

As shown in FIG. 5, content hub subsystem 110 may further include alocation based distribution module 570, which may include or beimplemented as hardware, computing instructions (e.g., software)tangibly embodied on a computer-readable medium, or a combination ofhardware and computing instructions configured to perform the locationbased content distribution processes described herein. In certainembodiments, location based content distribution module 570 may beimplemented as a software application embodied on a computer-readablemedium such as data store 530 and configured to direct the processingmodule 520 to execute one or more of the processes described herein.

Location based distribution module 570 may be configured to controlselective, location based distribution of posted content data 540. Tohelp facilitate an understanding of selective, location baseddistribution of content, FIG. 6 illustrates an example of access device120-2 being physically located within a predefined geographic proximity610 of a geographic location 620 associated with a content instanceincluded in content data 540. The geographic location 620 may be thesame location at which access device 120-1 is used to create andvirtually post the content instance as a content imprint, as describedabove.

When access device 120-2 is at the location shown in FIG. 6, locationdetection facility 260 may detect the current geographic location of theaccess device 120-2, as described above. The access device 120-2 mayprovide this information to content hub subsystem 110. For example, theaccess device 120-2 may transmit a location status communicationincluding location status information to the content hub subsystem 110over network 125. Access device 120-2 may provide location statusinformation proactively or in response to a request from content hubsubsystem 110.

Location based distribution module 570 of the content hub subsystem 110may be configured to process the location status information todetermine whether the detected geographic location of access device120-2 qualifies the access device 120-2 for access to the contentinstance associated with geographic location 620. In certainembodiments, this determination may be based on whether the currentlocation of access device 120-2 is “proximate” to the geographiclocation 620 associated with the content instance. Location baseddistribution module 570 may include and/or be configured to utilize apredefined heuristic to define what qualifies as being “proximate.” Incertain embodiments, “proximate” may refer to the current geographiclocation of access device 120-2 being within a predefined geographicproximity 610 of the geographic location 620. The proximity may bedefined in any suitable way, including as any location that is locatedwithin a specific distance (e.g., radial distance) of the geographiclocation 620. Other definitions of “proximate” may be employed as maysuit a particular implementation.

When no “proximity” is found, content hub subsystem 110 may elect not todistribute content to the access device 120-2. On the other hand, when“proximity” is found to exist, location based distribution module 570may direct content hub subsystem 110 to make the content instancecorresponding with the appropriate geographic location 620 accessible tothe access device 120-2. With reference to the example shown in FIG. 6,location based distribution module 570 may determine that access device120-2 is “proximate” to geographic location 620 because the accessdevice 120-2 is located within the predefined proximity 610 ofgeographic location 620. Accordingly, the geo-tag data 550 for thegeographic location 620 may be identified as a proximity match for thecurrent location of access device 120-2 and may be used to identify thecorresponding content instance to be distributed to the access device120-2.

Distribution of the content instance may include making the contentinstance accessible to the access device 120-2. This may be performed inany suitable way. In certain embodiments, when “proximity” is found, acopy of a corresponding content instance may be automatically provided(e.g., downloaded) to the access device 120-2.

In other embodiments, content hub subsystem 110 may be configured tomodify internal settings to establish permissions for the access device120-2 and/or user 130-2 associated with the access device 120-2 toaccess and retrieve the content instance. This may be accomplished inany suitable way. For example, content host subsystem 110 may maintainprofile data 580 for access devices 120 and/or users 130. The profiledata 580 may be updated with appropriate permissions settings and/orwith links to appropriate content data 540. For example, a link to thecontent instance associated with geographic location 620 may be insertedinto a profile associated with access device 120-2 and/or user 130-2 inorder to make the content instance accessible to the access device 120-2and/or user 130-2.

Content host subsystem 110 may be configured to provide notifications toone or more access devices 120 indicating that posted content has beenmade accessible. For example, content host subsystem 110 may provide anotification to access device 120-2 indicating that the content instanceassociated with geographic location 620 has been made accessible to theaccess device 120-2. Such notification may be in any suitable form anduse any acceptable communication technologies, including any suchtechnologies disclosed herein. The notification may include informationassociated with the content instance, including a description providedby the user 130-1 who posted the content instance or any other tag data560 associated with the content instance, for example.

Access device 120-2 may receive the notification, and user 130-2 mayelect whether to retrieve the accessible content instance. For example,user 130-2 may respond to the notification and request that a copy ofthe content instance be retrieved from the content hub subsystem 110 toaccess device 120-2. Accordingly, based on the above, user 130-2 canaccess and experience the content instance based on the relation of thelocation of access device 120-2 to the geographic location 620associated with the content instance.

In certain embodiments, content instance may be accessible to accessdevice 120-2 and/or user 130-2 only while the access device 120-2 islocated “proximate” to the geographic location 620 associated with thecontent instance. In such embodiments, access to the content instancemay be terminated when access device 120-2 is no longer locatedproximate to the geographic location 620. Accordingly, in some examples,current geographic proximity to the geographic location 620 may berequisite for accessibility to the associated content instance.

In certain other embodiments, once accessibility to content is granted,content hub subsystem 110 may be configured to maintain accessibility ofcontent for a predefined length of time, such as a day, week, month, orindefinitely. Accordingly, user 130-2 and/or access device 120-2 mayhave access to the content instance associated with geographic location620 based on past or present detected proximity of the access device120-2 to the geographic location 620.

For example, FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary travel path 705 of accessdevice 120-2 in relation to several geographic locations 620-1 through620-J and proximities 610-1 through 610-J associated with contentimprints virtually posted within network footprint 310. Referencenumbers 730-1 through 730-5 represent several detected geographiclocations of access device 120-2 along path 705. As shown in FIG. 7,locations 730-1, 730-3, and 730-5 are located outside of the proximities610-1 through 610-J. Therefore, in certain embodiments, locations 730-1,730-3, and 730-5 do not qualify access device 120-2 for access to any ofthe content imprints associated with geographic locations 620-1 through620-J.

On the other hand, location 730-2 is located within proximity 610-1, andlocation 730-4 is located within proximities 610-4 and 610-J.Accordingly, content host subsystem 110 may grant access device 120-2and/or user 130-2 with access to the posted content instancesrespectively associated with geographic locations 620-1, 620-4, and620-J, as described above. In certain embodiments, access may bemaintained after access device 120-2 has moved outside of proximities610-1, 610-4, and 610-J.

FIG. 8 illustrates exemplary data relationships between data recordsassociated with the travel path 705 shown in FIG. 7. As shown in FIG. 8,content data 540 may include content instances 540-1 through 540-J, andgeo-tag data 550 may include geo-tags 550-1 through 550-J. Contentinstances 540-1 through 540-J may represent content respectivelyassociated with geographic locations 620-1 through 620-J shown in FIG.7. FIG. 8 also shows data representative of the detected locations 730-1through 730-J of access device 120-2 along travel path 705, asmaintained in a location log 810. Location log 810 may be generated bycontent hub subsystem 110 based on geographic locations reported by theaccess device 120-2, or the access device 120-2 may generate thelocation log 810 and provide it to content hub subsystem 110. Contenthub subsystem 110 may be configured to utilize data included in the log810 to search for and identify matching geo-tag data 550, as describedabove. The arrows illustrated in FIG. 8 represent identified matchesbetween detected location 730-2 and geo-tag 550-1, and between detectedlocation 730-4 and geo-tags 550-4 and 550-J. Thus, based on theillustrated travel path 705 of access device 120-2 shown in FIG. 7,content instances 540-1, 540-4, and 540-J associated with the matchinggeo-tags 550-1, 550-4, and 550-J, respectively, may be made accessibleto access device 120-2 and/or user 130-2 based on the detected locations730-2 and 730-4 of access device 120-2.

As described above, access device 120-2 may be configured to presentcontent received from content hub subsystem 110 for experiencing by user130-2, and content management facility 250 within the access device120-2 may provide one or more tools enabling user 130-2 to annotate thecontent. For example, access device 120-2 may receive, from content hubsubsystem 110, a notification of content instance 540-1 having been madeaccessible to the access device 120-2 based on detected location 730-2.User 130-2 may choose to experience the content instance 540-1. Inaddition, user 130-1 may make one or more annotations to the contentinstance 540-1, including, but not limited to, providing a comment aboutthe content instance 540-1 (e.g., “This video is hilarious!”), ratingthe content instance 540-1 (e.g., on a predetermined scale), editing thecontent instance 540-1, blocking the content instance 540-1 from beingmade accessible to the access device 120-2 and/or user 130-2, andreporting the content instance 540-1 to content hub subsystem 110 (e.g.,as including inappropriate or distasteful material).

Access device 120-2 may provide data representative of an annotation tocontent hub subsystem 110, which may associate the annotation with thecontent instance 540-1. For example, the annotation may be added toother tag data 560 associated with the content instance 540-1.Accordingly, annotations, like other data associated with contentinstance 540-1, may be used to index, search, and retrieve the contentinstance 540-1. For example, a user 130 may search accessible contentfor specific content instances having a particular rating, associatedwith a particular creator, created during a particular time range,having associated comments, etc.

System 100 may be configured to enable users 130 to communicate with oneanother in connection with a geographic location. For example, whereuser 130-1 created and posted content instance 540-1 at geographiclocation 620-1, and the content instance 540-1 was made accessible touser 130-2 based on access device 120-2 being detected at location730-2, users 130-1 and 130-2 may establish and participate in follow-upcommunications with one another.

Such follow-up communications may be hosted and made accessible to theinvolved users (e.g., users 130-1 and 130-2). In some embodiments, suchcommunications are made accessible exclusively to the involved users130-1 and 130-2. FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary content hub subsystem910 configured to facilitate follow-up communications between multipleusers 130. Content hub subsystem 910 may be similar to content hubsubsystem 110 and may additionally include communication thread module920, which may be configured to manage follow-up communications, such ascommunications between users 130-1 and 130-2, as well as access to thefollow-up communications. For example, user 130-2 may provide a commentabout content instance 540-1. Content hub subsystem 910 may receive andstore the comment as other tag data 560 associated with the contentinstance 540-1. User 130-1 may access the comment and wish tocommunicate with user 130-2. User 130-1 may provide a follow-upcommunication to content hub subsystem 910. Communication thread module920 may recognize the communication as a follow-up communication fromuser 130-1 to user 130-2 and store the communication as a communicationthread in communication thread data 930 hosted on content hub subsystem110. User 130-2 may respond to the communication, and communicationthread module 920 may add this communication to the communication threadbetween users 130-1 and 130-2.

Communication thread module 920 may control access to the communicationthread in any way suitable for limiting access to the users 130-1, 130-2involved. For example, communication thread module 920 may place a linkto the communication thread in the profile data 580 associated with eachuser 130-1, 130-2 to grant access.

Accordingly, content hub subsystem 910 may be configured to function asa repository hosting communication threads connected with location basedcontent and to selectively grant access to the threads to involved users130. In certain embodiments, a detected past or present geographicconnection between users 130 (or access devices 120 associated with theusers 130) is a prerequisite for establishing hosted communicationthreads between the users 130. Users 130 may utilize the communicationthreads for various purposes, including discussing relationships orexperiences with a geographic location, discussing posted contentassociated with the location, and scheduling future meetings, forexample.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary implementation 1000 of system 100. Asshown in FIG. 10, the implementation 1000 may include content hubsubsystem 110 (or content hub subsystem 910) and an access device 120-2configured to communicate by way of a mobile phone network 1010. Accessdevice 120-2 may communicate with the content hub subsystem 110 overmobile phone network 1010 in any of the ways described above.Accordingly, user 130-2 may utilize access device 120-2 to post contentand retrieve and experience content based on geographic location. Inaddition, content hub subsystem 110 may be configured to supportcommunications with an additional access device 1020 over anotherconnection such as the Internet 1030. Hence, user 130-2 may be able toutilize additional access device 1020 to post and retrievelocation-based content. In certain embodiments, additional access device1020 may be used for posting and/or retrieving content to/from contenthub subsystem 110 without having to be located physically proximate tothe geographic location associated with the content. For example, thegeographic location of access device 120-2 may qualify user 130-2 foraccess to a content instance. Once qualified, user 130-2 may utilizeaccess device 120-2 or additional access device 1020 to retrieve andexperience the content.

As an example, a user 130-2 with access device 120-2 may travel fromlocation 730-1 to 730-5 along travel path 705. The physical detectedlocation 730-2 may qualify user 130-2 for access to content instance540-1. User 130-2 may elect to utilize additional access device 1020(e.g., a desktop computer) to retrieve and experience content instance540-1. Accordingly, after traveling from one location to another withaccess device 120-2, user 130-2 may use additional access device 1030 toretrieve, experience, and annotate content that has been made accessibleto user 130-2 by virtue of the detected geographic locations of accessdevice 120-2.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary method of location based contentaggregation and distribution from a content hub subsystem perspective.While FIG. 11 illustrates exemplary steps according to one embodiment,other embodiments may omit, add to, reorder, and/or modify any of thesteps shown in FIG. 11.

In step 1110, a content posting is received from an access device, suchas access device 120-1. The content posting generally includes datarepresentative of a content instance and a geographic locationassociated with the content instance. The content posting may alsoinclude other information associated with the content instance, asdescribed above. Step 1110 may be performed in any of the ways describedabove, including content hub subsystem 110 receiving the content postingfrom access device 120-1 over network 125. In certain embodiments,access device 120-1 may create the content instance, determine thegeographic location to be the physical location of the access device120-1, associate the geographic location with the content instance toform the content posting, and transmitting the content posting to thecontent hub subsystem 110 over network 125.

In step 1120, the content posting is stored. Step 1120 may be performedin any of the ways described above, including content hub subsystem 110storing the content posting to data store 530.

In step 1130, the content instance is selectively distributed to atleast one other access device, such as access device 120-2, based on thegeographic location. Step 1130 may be performed in any of the waysdescribed above, including the content hub subsystem 110 detecting thatthe access device 120-2 is located physically proximate to thegeographic location, making the content instance accessible to theaccess device 120-2, notifying the access device 120-2 of the grantedaccessibility, receiving a request from the access device 120-2 for thecontent instance, and/or providing data representative of the contentinstance to the access device 120-2 over network 125. In some examples,step 1130 may include keeping the content instance accessible to theaccess device 120-2 for a predetermined length of time, includingmaintaining accessibility when the access device 120-2 is no longerlocated physically proximate to the geographic location.

In step 1140, an annotation to the content instance is received. Step1140 may be performed in any of the ways described above, includingcontent hub subsystem 110 receiving the annotation from an access device120 over network 125.

In step 1150, the annotation is associated with the content instance.Step 1150 may be performed in any of the ways described above, includingmodifying the content instance and/or incorporating the annotation intag data 550 associated with the content instance.

In step 1160, the annotation is selectively distributed in associationwith the content instance. Step 1160 may be performed in any of the waysdescribed above, including making the annotation and the contentinstance accessible to an access device such as access device 120-2.

In step 1170, a communication associated with the content instance isreceived from the other access device 120-2. Step 1170 may be performedin any of the ways described above.

In step 1180, a hosted communication thread including the communicationis created. Step 1180 may be performed in any of the ways describedabove, including content hub subsystem 1180 creating and hosting thecommunication thread.

In step 1190, the access device 120-1 and the other access device 120-2are provided with access to the hosted communication thread. Step 1190may be performed in any of the ways described above

The exemplary systems and methods described above may support a widevariety of applications and uses. As one example, a user 130-1 mayutilize an access device 120-1 (e.g., a mobile phone) to record a videoat a local skate park. The access device 120-1 may be configured todetect the geographic location 620 at which the video content wascreated, associate the video content with the geographic location 620,and post the video content and location data representative of thegeographic location 620 to the content hub subsystem 110. This may bereferred to as posting a location based content imprint. When anotheruser 130-2 with another access device 120-2 visits the skate park andenters within a predefined geographic proximity 610 of the geographiclocation 620 associated with the posted video content, the content hubsubsystem 110 may send a notification of the accessible content to theaccess device 120-2, and the user 130-2 may utilize the access device120-2 to download and experience the video content.

With the geographic connection to the skate park established and thecontent instance accessible to user 130-2, either of the two users 130-1and 130-2 may annotate the video content and/or create a communicationthread between each other, as described above. For example, user 130-2may view the video and provide a comment, e.g., “That move was sweet!”,to content hub subsystem 110. Other visitors to the skate park maysimilarly gain access to any posted content associated with thegeographic location of the skate park.

With the geographic connection to the skate park established and thecontent instance accessible to user 130-2, either of the two users 130-1and 130-2 may provide a communication to the content hub subsystem 110in connection with the content instance. The content hub subsystem 110may create a hosted communication thread including any communicationsbetween the two users 130-1 and 130-2 and provide the same users 130-1and 130-2 with access to the hosted thread. Accordingly, users 130-1 and130-2 can communicate with another in relation to content associatedwith the skate park.

As another example, during a trip a user 130-1 may post content to thecontent hub subsystem 110 and subsequently use the posted content as atravel log. For instance, user 130-1 may access and group posted contentbased on the different geographic locations associated with the contentand/or a period of time corresponding with the trip. The posted contentmay be presented in the form of a virtual travel log or scrapbook.

As another example, a user 130-2 may travel to a particular geographiclocation and gain access to posted content associated with thegeographic location. User 130-2 may be able to utilize the postedcontent to plan and/or improve the user's 130-2 activities at thegeographic location. For example, posted content may include suggestionsas to recommended places to eat, places or people to visit, things tobuy, best photo opportunities, local events, etc. Such postings may beprovided by other travelers and may be based on their experiences.

As yet another example, content postings may be used to distribute localinformation. For instance, an organization may provide content postingsfor informational purposes, including information about roadconstruction, road closures, traffic patterns and conditions, ski resortconditions, travel directions, venues, hotels, eateries, shopping,schools, events, etc. As a specific example, a sporting event venue maypost content including game highlights, schedules, maps, and team rosterinformation. As another specific example, a college may post classinformation, maps, and parking information.

Users 130 who gain access to the posted information may annotate and/orrespond to the information as described above. For example, a userviewing posted content descriptive of road construction timeframes maynotify the organization that posted the content about current siteconditions (e.g., the road has been reopened or travel is restricted toone lane).

While certain examples described above include location-basedrequirements for posting and/or having access to posted content, otherembodiments may do away with such requirements. In certain alternativeembodiments, for example, it may be sufficient for a user 130 of anaccess device 120 or an additional access device 1030 to specify ageographic location to be associated with content to be posted orretrieved to/from content hub subsystem 110. In yet other embodiments,other requirements for posting and/or accessing posted content may beemployed, including, but not limited to, user memberships in predefinedgroups and user subscriptions.

In the preceding description, various exemplary embodiments have beendescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will, however,be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto,and additional embodiments may be implemented, without departing fromthe scope of the invention as set forth in the claims that follow. Forexample, certain features of one embodiment described herein may becombined with or substituted for features of another embodimentdescribed herein. The description and drawings are accordingly to beregarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a content hubsubsystem, a content posting from an access device connected to awireless network and associated with a first user, the content postingincluding data representative of a content instance and a geographiclocation associated with the content instance; storing, by the contenthub subsystem, the content posting; selectively distributing, by thecontent hub subsystem, the content instance to at least one other accessdevice connected to the wireless network based on the geographiclocation, the at least one other access device associated with a seconduser, wherein the first and second users are members of a group, andwherein the first and second users being members of the group arerequisite to the distribution of the content instance to the at leastone other access device; wherein a past or present physical location ofthe at least one other access device being within a predefined proximityof the geographic location is further requisite to the distribution ofthe content instance to the at least one other access device; andsending a notification to the at least one other access deviceindicating an availability of the content instance.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the content instance is created by the access device.3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: subsequent to sending thenotification to the at least one other access device indicating theavailability of the content instance, distributing, by the content hubsubsystem, the content instance to a third access device associated withthe second user, the third access device being outside the predefinedproximity of the geographic location.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving, by the content hub subsystem, an annotation tothe content instance from at least one of the access device and the atleast one other access device, the annotation created by at least one ofthe first user associated with the access device and the second userassociated with the at least one other access device; associating, bythe content hub subsystem, the annotation with the content instance;selectively distributing, by the content hub subsystem, the annotationin association with the content instance based on the geographiclocation.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the past or present physicallocation of the at least one other access device within the predefinedproximity of the geographic location is requisite to the distribution ofthe annotation in association with the content instance to the at leastone other access device.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein theannotation comprises at least one of a comment about the contentinstance, a rating of the content instance, and an edit to the contentinstance.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the content instancecomprises at least one of an electronic data set representative of text,a message, a symbol, a graph, an image, and a video, audio, ormultimedia file.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:associating the content instance with tag data, wherein the tag datacomprises at least one of a timestamp, a user identifier, a contentdescription, and a content type identifier.
 9. The method of claim 8,wherein the tag data is created by the first user.
 10. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising: including the tag data in the notification.11. A method comprising: receiving, by a content hub subsystem, acontent posting associated with a first user, the content postingincluding data representative of a content instance and a geographiclocation associated with the content instance; storing, by the contenthub subsystem, the content posting; selectively distributing, by thecontent hub subsystem, the content instance to an access deviceconnected by a wireless network based on the geographic location, theaccess device associated with a second user, wherein the first user andthe second user are members of a group; wherein a past or presentphysical location of the access device being within a predefinedproximity of the geographic location is further requisite to thedistribution of the content instance to the access device, and whereinthe first and second users being members of the group are requisite tothe distribution of the content instance to the access device; andsending a notification to the access device indicating an availabilityof the content instance.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:subsequent to sending the notification to the access device indicatingthe availability of the content instance, distributing, by the contenthub subsystem, the content instance to another access device associatedwith the second user, the other access device being outside thepredefined proximity of the geographic location.
 13. The method of claim11, further comprising: receiving, by the content hub subsystem, anannotation to the content instance from the access device, theannotation created by the second user; associating, by the content hubsubsystem, the annotation with the content instance; selectivelydistributing, by the content hub subsystem, the annotation inassociation with the content instance based on the geographic location.14. The method of claim 13, wherein the past or present physicallocation of the access device within the predefined proximity of thegeographic location is requisite to the distribution of the annotationin association with the content instance.
 15. The method of claim 13,wherein the annotation comprises at least one of a comment about thecontent instance, a rating of the content instance, and an edit to thecontent instance.
 16. The method of claim 11, wherein the selectivelydistributing comprises making the content instance accessible to theaccess device by associating the content instance with a user profileassociated with the second user in response to a determination that thepast or present physical location of the access device is within thepredefined proximity of the geographic location.
 17. The method of claim16, wherein the associating of the content instance with the userprofile makes the content instance accessible to another access deviceassociated with the second user, the other access device being outsidethe predefined proximity of the geographic location.
 18. A systemcomprising: one or more processors; and a memory coupled to theprocessors comprising instructions executable by the processors, theprocessors being operable when executing the instructions to: store acontent posting that includes data representative of a content instanceand a geographic location, the content posting being associated with afirst user; selectively distribute the content instance to an accessdevice connected by a wireless network based on the geographic location,the access device associate with a second user, wherein the first userand the second user are members of a group, and wherein the first andsecond users being members of the group are requisite to thedistribution of the content instance to the access device; and send anotification to the access device indicating an availability of thecontent instance; wherein a past or present physical location of theaccess device being within a predefined proximity of the geographiclocation is further requisite to the distribution of the contentinstance to the access device.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein theselective distribution comprises making the content instance accessibleto the access device by associating the content instance with a userprofile associated with the second user in response to a determinationthat the past or present physical location of the access device iswithin the predefined proximity of the geographic location.
 20. Thesystem of claim 19, wherein the associating of the content instance withthe user profile makes the content instance accessible to another accessdevice associated with the second user, the other access device beingoutside the predefined proximity of the geographic location.